Simplify the following expression: $ n = \dfrac{x - 1}{-5} - 7 $
Answer: In order to add expressions, they must have a common denominator. Multiply the second expression by $\dfrac{-5}{-5}$ $ \dfrac{-7}{1} \times \dfrac{-5}{-5} = \dfrac{35}{-5} $ Therefore $ n = \dfrac{x - 1}{-5} + \dfrac{35}{-5} $ Now the expressions have the same denominator we can simply add the numerators: $n = \dfrac{x - 1 + 35}{-5} $ $n = \dfrac{x + 34}{-5}$ Simplify the expression by dividing the numerator and denominator by -1: $n = \dfrac{-x - 34}{5}$